Imatges de pàgina
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To thee fast clings the heaven-born soul, To thee the vital flame aspires;

Aims at thy heaven, the wish'd-for goal, And thither points her vivid fires.

On thee alone I can rely, (An insulated being here,)

Fix'd in the hope, whene'er I die, I wake to Truth's eternal year. Whither, eternal God! I go, When this existence fades in air,

Why should I dread? Why should I know? For thou, my Father, wilt be there.

THE HEAVENLY VISITANT.

BEHOLD a stranger at the door!
He gently knocks, has knock'd before
Has waited long, is waiting still,

You use no other friend so ill.

But will he prove a friend indeed?
He will; the very friend you need ;
Jesus of Nazareth; 'tis he,
With garments dy'd from Calvary.

Oh! lovely attitude! he stands

With melting heart and open hands!
Oh! matchless kindness! and he shows

This matchless kindness to his foes.

Rise, touch'd with gratitude divinė,
Banish his enemy and thine;
Turn out that hateful monster, sin,
And let the heavenly stranger in.

Yet know, nor of the terms complain,
Where Jesus comes, he comes to reign;
To reign, and with no partial sway;
E'en thoughts must die that disobey.
Sovereign of souls! thou Prince of Peace,
Oh! may thy gentle reign increase!
Throw wide the door, each willing mind,
And be his empire all mankind.

THE APPEAL.

HAST thou beheld the glorious sun,
Through all the sky his circuit run,
At rising morn, at closing day,

And when he beam'd his noon-tide ray?

Say, didst thou e'er attentive view
The morning cloud, and evening dew?
Or through the rain, the varied bow,
Gleam in the east, a beauteous show?

When darkness had o'erspread the skies,
Hast thou not seen the moon arise;
And with a mild and placid light

Shed lustre o'er the face of night?

S

Hast thou e'er wander'd o'er the plain,
And view'd the fields and waving grain;
The flowery mead, the leafy grove,
Where all is melody and love?

Hast thou e'er trod the sandy shore,
And heard the restless ocean roar;
When rous'd by some tremendous storm,
Its billows roll in dreadful form?

Hast thou beheld the lightning stream
Through night's dark gloom, with sudden gleam,
While the rolling thunders sound,

Peal'd rattling through the heavens profound?

Hast thou e'er felt the cutting gale,

The sleety show'r, the biting hail;
Beheld bright snow o'erspread the plains,
The water bound in icy chains?

Hast thou the various beings seen,
That sport along the valley green;
Birds that warble on the spray,
Or wanton in the sunny ray ?

That shoot along the briny deep,
Or under ground their dwellings keep;
That through the gloomy forest range,
Or frightful wilds and deserts strange?
Hast thou the wond'rous scenes survey'd
That all around thee are display'd?
And hast thou never rais'd thine eyes,
To Him who caus'd these scenes to rise?

"Twas God who form'd the concave sky, And all the shining orbs on high; Who gave the various beings birth,

That people all this spacious earth.

"Tis He that bids the tempest rise, Who rolls the thunder through the skies; His voice the elements obey,

Through all the earth extends his sway.

His goodness all his creatures share;
But man is his peculiar care.

Then, while they all proclaim his praise,
Let man for all thanksgiving raise.

BEAUTY TRANSIENT.

THE morning flowers display their sweets, gay their silken leaves unfold;

And

As careless of the noontide heats,
And fearless of the evening cold.

Nipt by the wind's untimely blast,
Parch'd by the sun's severer ray,.
The momentary glories waste,

The short-lived beauties die away.

So blooms the human face divine,
When-youth its pride of beauty shows;
Fairer than Spring the colours shine,
And sweeter than the new-blown rose.

But worn by slowly rolling years,

Or broke by sickness in a day;
The fading glory disappears,
The transient beauties die away.

Yet these, new rising from the tomb,
With lustre, brighter far shall shine
(If virtue throw o'er life her bloom)
Safe from diseases and decline.

Let sickness blast, let death devour,

So Heaven but recompense our pains; Perish the grass, and fade the flower,

Yet firm the word of God remains.

PRAISE TO GOD IN PROSPERITY AND ADVERSITY.

Mrs. Barbauld.

PRAISE to God, immortal praise,
For the love that crowns our days;
Bounteous source of every joy,
Let thy praise our tongues employ.
For the blessings of the field,
For the stores the gardens yield;
For the vine's exalted juice,
For the generous olive's use.
Flocks that whiten all the plain,
Yellow sheaves of ripen'd grain;
Clouds that drop their fattening dews,
Suns that temperate warmth diffuse.

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